In recent years epoxy adhesives have gained great acceptance in a wide range of applications. Epoxy adhesives generally comprise a viscous resin compound which is mixed with a catalyst. The catalyst promotes a chemical reaction in the resin compound which causes the resin to harden and to adhere to objects in contact therewith.
One notable drawback to two-part epoxy adhesives is that catalyzed chemical reaction requires a minimum time to proceed to completion; typical minimum time values range from 30 seconds to one hour for various adhesives. During this time the resin exhibits little adhesive action, and the objects to be joined must be maintained engaged by manual force, clamping means, or the like. In those situations in which manual force or clamps are impractical or inconvenient, other adhesives such as contact cement are preferred, due to their virtually instantaneous bonding ability. Contact cement, however, usually does not permit any correction of the relative positions of the objects joined, due to the quick formation of the adhesive bond.
There are, of course, other types of adhesives which also suffer from the same drawback as epoxy compounds; i.e., an inconvenient or intolerable "set up" time.